Pushing Richmond for 20 (More) Miles of Bike Lanes

I wanted to pass along this email from BikeWalk RVA because I think it’s hugely important in moving us forward as a city that’s friendly to bicyclists and incentivizes bicycle travel.

The City of Richmond hasn’t striped a new bike lane in over a year, but that’s about to change. On November 22 from 5 to 7 p.m., the city is hosting a big meeting at the Main Library on Franklin Street to publicly vet plans for OVER 20 MILES of new bike lanes. These include 90% plans for a two-way protected bike lane on Franklin St. between Monroe Park and the Capitol at 9th St and 30% plans for seven other bikeway corridors in the city that would combine to make 20 new miles of bike lanes in Richmond!

The consultants and City of Richmond staff need you to be there to provide support and evaluate the bikeway designs! They need to know that you support building bikeways that are safe, comfortable, and intuitive for families, those new to riding, and visitors to Richmond. Bike lanes should be protected with flex posts, planters, parked cars, or other barriers whenever possible. If not, as we have learned from other bike lane projects, people will drive and/or park in them.

The plans being presented will be in different stages of completion, so your feedback is going to be super important in informing what the final products look like.

Here are a couple of questions to consider going into the meeting:

What makes you feel most comfortable when riding in a bike lane? Would you prefer physical protection separating you from traffic (plastic posts, curb, planter boxes, parked cars), or are painted stripes enough?

What is most likely to get more people riding?What would it take for an 80-year-old grandmother to feel safe riding to the store? Or for her to feel confident allowing her 8-year-old grandchild to bike to school?

About Andy Thompson

I was the Outdoors Columnist at the Times-Dispatch from 2007 to 2013, writing twice a week about mountain biking, fishing, hunting, paddling and much more. I live a 1/4 mile from the James River, close enough to see bald eagles soaring over my house on their way to find a meal. Pretty cool, eh?